The drug-distribution case against Gilbert Johnson, 46, of 4097 Weeping Willow Court in Chantilly is moving forward in the legal system — more than a year after he was arrested.
On Feb. 28, 2006, Fairfax county police charged him with one count of distributing cocaine.
Two undercover narcotics detectives explained the case against him in a Feb. 27, 2006 affidavit for a warrant to look for evidence in Johnson's townhouse. After field-testing samples of cocaine reportedly purchased from Johnson, the detectives wrote that they allegedly tested positive for that drug.
They noted, as well, that he'd been arrested eight previous times for distribution of cocaine. And when police executed the search warrant at Johnson's home, March 1, 2006, they seized two jeweler's bags stuffed with crack cocaine. One bag was found inside a hat on the kitchen table, and the other was inside a trash can in the kitchen.
Police also confiscated pills from the top of the refrigerator, records and documents from the kitchen counter, crack cocaine from an end table in the living room, a crack pipe from within a Virginia Slims box in the living room, a crack pipe stem from the upstairs hallway floor and a plastic bag with suspected drug residue from atop a dresser in the master bedroom.
The case then stalled for a year, until last Monday, April 30, in General District Court. At that time, Judge Lorraine Nordlund certified the case against Johnson to the grand jury for possible indictment.
<tgl> — Bonnie Hobbs